AMFA was certified at Alaska Airlines (ASA) on March 30, 1998, and the Association currently represents over 600 ASA members who maintain the airline's fleet of Boeing 737s. The current contract is the fourth AMFA – ASA negotiated contract, and the amendable date is October 17, 2016.

January 28, 2018 -- AMFA and Alaska Airlines met in Seattle, WA on January 24 and 25 to discuss a Virgin America –Alaska Airlines Transition Agreement. We started off by notifying the Company that we will need additional time to discuss our issues with Letter of Agreement (LOA) #12, Vacation Buyback, as the tax attorney we intended to have present this week is no longer with Milliman, the retirement consulting firm we are using.

January 11, 2018 -- AMFA and Alaska Airlines met in Dallas, Texas on January 2 and 3 to discuss a Virgin America – Alaska Airlines Transition Agreement. Our Committee started by explaining to the Company that before we would have any discussions on a Transition Agreement, we needed to make every effort outside of arbitration to resolve three contractual items recently taking up a lot of time and resources.

November 22, 2017 -- The AMFA-ASA and Virgin America committees met to continue discussions on seniority integration in Livermore, CA on November 14 and 15. After two days of discussions we would like to announce that we have reached an Agreement in Principle (AIP) on seniority integration. While the major
components have been agreed upon, we still have some specific language that remains to be written and agreed upon in order to reach a formal Tentative Agreement (TA).

October 18, 2017 -- AMFA leaders and the Virgin America Committee met in Seattle, WA to commence discussions on seniority integration of the Alaska Airlines (ASA) and Virgin America workgroups. This meeting started with introductions. Lonny McGrew of the Virgin Committee gave a statement on behalf of their committee expressing how grateful they were to have had the opportunity to work for a company with such great culture and a career that was bright, and he concluded with being unsure of the security of their career at ASA. Our Committee gave them an overview of AMFA and its structure. We then discussed what Alaska Labor Relations and Virgin are telling each other to expect through this process.

October 18, 2017 -- In accordance with the terms outlined in Article 23, Wage Rules, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to discuss the first Annual Wage Review of our current Agreement in Seattle, WA. Both sides reviewed all data used for the review, and we found that the data was incomplete when it came to some contracts Line Premium and longevity. We explained that this data is needed to do a proper review; the Company will inquire to get that data as soon as possible. We then conducted the external review with the data we did have, using the all-in wage compared to our primary competitors in accordance with the Agreement.

March 3, 2017 -- It is clear by the outcome of today's 76.25% majority vote that the AMFA–Alaska Airlines membership thought it was the right decision for themselves and their families to accept the Tentative Agreement.

March 3, 2017 -- The votes for the AMFA – Alaska Airlines Tentative Agreement (TA) were tallied on March 3, 2017. Ballots for this referendum were counted and certified by TrueBallot, Inc. and the results are as follows...

January 9, 2017 -- On December 10, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines announced an Agreement in Principle (AIP) on a new five
year agreement. The AMFA Committee has been working with the Company over the last three weeks drafting
the new language, and we now have a Tentative Agreement (TA) ready for membership consideration. The AMFA – Alaska Airlines Technician Negotiating Committee has scheduled the following Contract
Tentative Agreement Question and Answer Meetings around the system to discuss the TA and to answer
questions from the membership...

December 13, 2016 -- We would like to announce that we have reached an Agreement in Principle (AIP) on our contract with ASA. On December 9-10, 2016, AMFA and ASA met to continue negotiations at the Westin Hotel in Bellevue, WA. We started at 10:00 am on Friday and finished at approximately 11:15 pm. We continued our session from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday, whereas we came to an AIP with the Company.

December 13, 2016 -- The Alaska Airlines (ASA) Aircraft Maintenance Technicians (AMT) are major contributors to the Company’s record profits, safety record, cost structure, reliability, on-time performance, and overall success. Despite the rapid changes in the airline industry and current shortage of qualified, tenured Technicians, the aviation industry continues in an economic upturn. The big four – Delta, American, United, and Southwest Airlines– have helped raise the bar for economic packages due to the last 15 years of stagnation and concessions that have resulted in record profits and substantial growth in the industry.

December 7, 2016 -- As you know, AMFA is currently engaged in collective bargaining with Alaska Airlines pursuant to the Railway Labor Act. As long as that lasts, the parties are required to refrain from “self help” until released by the National Mediation Board (“NMB”) from mediation and a thirty-day cooling off period has expired. This means that during the negotiating process Alaska is prohibited from initiating a lockout or unilaterally changing the terms of our collective bargaining agreement. It also means that AMFA-represented employees are prohibited from engaging in concerted job actions designed to create bargaining leverage. Federal courts have defined “self help” to include, among other things, group overtime boycotts.

December 7, 2016 -- On December 1 and 2, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Courtyard Marriott in Anchorage, Alaska. We started the first day at 9:00 am with the Company giving an update on their draft of the new Maintenance & Engineering (M&E) expense report policy and where they are at with publishing it. We should see it next year so that stations can budget for the change. The Company then gave an update on the Commuter Pass Policy for M&E. The Company said that they are waiting for changes to the pass policy to come out before they do anything.

November 8, 2016 -- On November 1–3, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Four Points Hotel in Seattle, WA. We started the first day at 9:00 AM, with the Company asking us to go over our last economic proposal from October 13, 2016. The Company then wanted to do another review where Alaska Technicians would be ranked for all-in wages (all-in wages include base pay, license premiums, line premium, and maximum longevity) within the current airline industry.

October 18, 2016 -- AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Semiahmoo Resort near Blaine, WA. We started the first day at 9:00 am, with the Company informing us that they were not yet ready to give us a complete comprehensive counter proposal, and required some more time before they would be able to present it to us.

October 4, 2016 -- September 27–29, 2016, AMFA and ASA met to continue negotiations at the CenterPoint Corporate Park in Kent, Washington. We started the first day with informing the Company that we wanted to reopen Article 16, Grievance Procedures; Article 1, System Board of Adjustment; and Article 21, General and Miscellaneous. This has to do with the Company’s use of Supervisor Records of Discussion (FS-01s) and the access the union has to them for the grievance process.

September 6, 2016 -- On August 29 – September 1, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Hilton Garden in Kennewick, WA. We started the first day, which was a half-day session, with the Company informing us that they planned to give us a complete comprehensive proposal the next day. As they weren’t ready to give us the proposal without being able to go over it with us due to time constraints, we broke early for the day to allow the Company to work on their proposal for us.

August 11, 2016 -- The Negotiating Committee is providing this update to the AMFA Membership at Alaska Airlines. This is the only official authorized source of negotiating communications by the Committee. AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Hilton Hotel in Santa Rosa, California. We were scheduled for a two and a half day session August 3–5, 2016. We got a late start on August 3rd, which was a scheduled half-day session, due to the late arrival of flights.

July 25, 2016 -- On July 18-20, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the CenterPoint Center in Kent, Washington. We started this session with our proposed changes to the language in Article 22, Insurance. Our proposal was in response to the Company’s proposed changes to insurance during talks in our previous negotiating session. We proposed to limit our contribution rate cap increases to 5% per year based on our 2016 contribution rates, rather than the 8% increases that the Company wants added to the maximum allowable rate caps in our current agreement.

July 7, 2016 -- June 28th-30th, 2016 AMFA and Alaska Airlines met for a two-and-a-half day session to continue negotiations. We met at the CenterPoint Conference Center in Kent, Washington. We started the first day, which was a half-day session, with discussions on Article 22 Insurance.

June 7, 2016 -- On May 31 through June 2, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Hilton Garden Inn in Livermore, CA. The first day we reviewed our agenda and action item list. The Company shared the Travel Bureau Commuter Pass Policy, which will be published on the Maintenance & Engineering SharePoint site along with an additional Divisional Policy document containing exceptions that can be granted by the VP of Maintenance & Engineering.

May 16, 2016 -- On May 9–11, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Alki Bakery in Seattle, WA. We started the first day, which was a half-day session, reviewing our agenda. The Company informed us that they have drafted a Commuter Pass Policy and are sending it to the Travel Bureau for review before bringing it to the next Airlines Contract Committee (ACC) meeting on May 26, for us to review. We then began reviewing Article 4, Classification of Work. The Company brought up cross-utilization across bid locations.

April 19, 2016 -- April 12–13, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Alki Bakery "Baker Room" in Kent, WA. We started the first day discussing how the contract negotiations will still move forward during the Virgin America merger. Then we moved on to talking about Article 8, paragraph K, Special Projects. Between negotiations sessions the Company had some supervisors try to call a mock special project using the language we had agreed to. With that feedback, the committees reviewed the language and changed portions of paragraph K to make it clearer and easier to select members for the special project and to match the intent of the Article.

April 12, 2016 -- In February 2016 we posted for two AMFA – Alaska Airlines (ASA) Accident Investigation Team (AIT) positions: Party Coordinator and Alternate Party Coordinator. We received four applications for these positions. Over the past few weeks I have reviewed applications and interviewed all four applicants for the two available positions on the team.

In March 2016, AMFA National called for nominations to fill the position of Primary AMFA – Alaska Airlines (ASA) Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) Event Review Committee (ERC) Representative. Alaska Airlines members of Locals 14 and 32 were allowed to submit names in nomination for this position. Following the close of the Willingness to Serve process of this election, there is only one candidate for this position: Kevin Jurasinski.

April 4, 2016 -- The AMFA - Alaska Airlines Negotiating Committee is providing this notice of change to the schedule for our next negotiations session. Due to a scheduling conflict, our Committee and the Company have agreed to cancel the half-day session for Monday April 11, 2016. We will continue our discussions at the CenterPoint Corporate Park Conference Center, in the Common’s Building, in the Mt. Baker room. The official address is 20809 72nd Ave S, Kent, Washington 98032. The AMFA - Alaska Airlines Negotiating Committee is providing this notice of change to the schedule for our next negotiations session.

March 28–31, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Embassy Suites in Portland, Oregon. We started the first day, which was a half-day session, reviewing our agenda. The Company informed us that they were not willing to discuss Article 3, Status at this time. We then started with Article 19, Severance Allowance; our proposal was to increase the severance amount as Alaska is not in line with the other carriers in the industry. After discussion, no conclusion was made at this time. We then went on to discuss Letter of Agreement # 13, Health and Wellness and decided to come back to it at a later date. We then moved on to Article 11, Leave of Absence; our proposal on this article was for Union Override, which is the amount the Company charges the Union while we are on Union business.

Today, April 4, 2016, Alaska Airlines announced that it is acquiring Virgin America Airlines. The transaction has generated a number of questions on how the transaction will affect Alaska Airlines Mechanics and Related Employees. The short answer is that the transaction should not impact AMFA represented employees in the near term.

On February 29 and March 1, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met and continued Section 6 Negotiations at the Centerpoint Corporate Park in Kent, Washington. We started the first day by reviewing what had been accomplished in the last session. We then went on to discuss Article 8, Field Service and Special Projects. The committees discussed the removal of "Major" from K 2, line 11, page 44, "Major Structures," because of the confusion with the FAA’s definition of a Major Repair and the intent of Major as used in the special project language. We then continued in Article 8,K combining "A&P Line" and "A&P Base" into one list of A&P.

February 8-10, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the Courtyard by Marriott Anchorage Airport. AMFA and the Company started the first day, which was a half-day session, reviewing the last session’s take away items. The first of those items was Letter of Agreement #6, which deals with chemical dependency. The Company had the letter reviewed by Josh Madsen, Alaska’s Director of Health Benefits & Medical Relations, who made some very simple changes to the language, but after review, both committees decided to leave the letter as is.

January 19-21, 2016, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to continue negotiations at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Seattle Airport – Southcenter in Tukwila, Washington. AMFA and the Company started the first day, which was a half-day session, developing some ground rules around the negotiations process and rules for observers going forward.

The AMFA - Alaska Airlines Negotiating Committee is providing this notice of change of venue for our next negotiations session. Due to the inability to reserve all three upcoming dates at the CenterPoint Corporate Park conference center in Kent, Washington, The location has been changed to the Doubletree Hotel Suites Seattle Airport - Southcenter, Tukwila, WA.

On Monday December 21, 2015, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to exchange Section 6 Negotiation Openers at the Center Point Business Park in Kent, Washington. Greg Mays started things off by asking both Committees to introduce themselves for the observers in the room. He then gave a short opening statement, in which he explained that the Company was dedicated to reaching an agreement by the amendable date, and that it would be good for the Company and our members. As part of the discussion, he asked us to set aside dates through March.

The AMFA-Alaska Airlines (ASA) Negotiating Committee met with Alaska Airlines management on December 21, 2015, to start to amend our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). An update of this opening negotiation session will be out later this week or the first part of next week. In the meantime, for those of you involved in your first negotiations or for those who need a refresher, please refer to the following synopsis.

We are pleased to inform you that we have scheduled the first negotiation session with Alaska Airlines for Monday, December 21, 2015, at the CenterPoint Corporate Park Conference Center in Kent, Washington. This will be a half-day session starting at 1:00 PM to exchange negotiation openers.

In accordance with the terms outlined in Article 23, Wage Rules, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to discuss the fourth and final Annual Wage Review of our current Agreement in Oakland, California. Both sides reviewed all data used for the review. We then conducted an external review of our all-in wage compared to our primary competitors in accordance with the Agreement. The rates used were as of September 15, 2015, with none of the compared carriers’ rates expected to change before October 17, 2015, the effective date of the contractual 1.5% pay increase. The all in rates, which includes base pay, license premiums, line premium, and longevity at the top of each scale are: 1) Southwest $43.89, 2) Delta $39.55, 3) Alaska $39.14, 4) US Airways $38.01, 5) JetBlue $38.00, 6) United $36.92, 6) American $36.63, 7) Frontier $32.37.

In accordance with Article XXIII, Section 3 of the AMFA Constitution, AMFA National is conducting a survey to prioritize proposals submitted for the upcoming AMFA – Alaska Airlines contract negotiations. This survey gives you an opportunity to indicate your opinion of the level of importance for each proposal by ranking it high, neutral, or low priority, and the results of this prioritization vote will be given to the Negotiation Committee to be used during the contract negotiation process. The complete text of the 62 compiled proposals will be displayed on the survey website.

In March 2015 AMFA National called for nominations to fill the position of Alternate AMFA – Alaska Airlines (ASA) Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) Event Review Committee (ERC) Representative. Alaska Airlines members of Locals 14 and 32 were allowed to submit names in nomination for this position. Following the close of the Willingness to Serve Form process of this election, there is only one candidate for this position: Tony Kondziela.

In accordance with the terms outlined in Article 23, Wage Rules, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met to discuss the Annual Wage Review on September 19, 2014, at the Hangar in Seattle, Washington. Both sides reviewed all data used for the review and agreed on that data. We then started by conducting an external review of our all-in wage compared to our primary competitors in accordance to the agreement; the rates used were as of October 17, 2014, the effective date of the contractual 1.5% pay increase. Here are those all in rates, which includes base pay, license premiums, line premium, and longevity at the top of each of those scales...

To ensure the remains of fallen service members are treated with respect and dignity upon arrival, a special blue baggage cart with American flag curtains and red carpet has been delivered to Los Angeles International Airport. During a dedication ceremony Monday at LAX, Seattle employees presented the cart to their Los Angeles counterparts, accompanied by an honor guard and representatives from Los Angeles World Airports.

In March 2014, AMFA National called for nominations to fill the position of Primary AMFA – Alaska Airlines (ASAP) Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) Event Review Committee (ERC) Representative.
Alaska Airlines members of Locals 14 and 32 were allowed to submit names in nomination for this position.

The Alaska Airlines team competed in the Aerospace Maintenance Competition (formerly called the MX Skill Competition or MX Olympics) in Las Vegas on March 26-27, 2014. The event is held each year and teams from across the US and abroad compete against each other in several challenges of their skill. The Alaska Airlines team, comprised of AMFA members, competed heartily and earned the 3rd place award. AMFA congratulates the dedicated members who were involved in team.

On September 30, 2013, AMFA and Alaska Airlines met in accordance with the terms of Article 23, Wage Rules to initiate discussions for our annual wage review. Both sides reviewed and agreed to all data used for the review. We then started by doing an external review of our “all in” wage as compared to the seven carriers referred to in the Contract. The rates used where as of October 17, 2013, the day the contractual minimum 1.5% base wage increase would have gone into affect.